Margaret, Lady Brooke, The Ranee of Sarawak (1849 – 1936) was queen-consort of the second White Rajah of Sarawak, Charles Anthony Johnson Brooke. She published her memoir My Life in Sarawak in 1913, that offers a rare glimpse of life in The Astana in Kuching and colonial Borneo.
The Ranee became legendary during her lifetime as a woman of strength and intelligence, as well as her extraordinary circumstance as Eurasian royalty.
Brooke loved his wife dearly. The Astana was built specially for her as a wedding present. And Fort Margherita, also in Kuching, was named after her.
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Born Margaret Alice Lili de Windt, she was the daughter of Captain Joseph Clayton Jennyns de Windt, of Blunston Hall, and his wife, Elizabeth Sarah Johnson. Her brother, Harry de Windt, was a well-known explorer.
Margaret de Windt married Rajah Charles at Highworth, Wiltshire on 28 October 1869. She was raised to the title of Ranee of Sarawak with the style of Her Highness upon their marriage. She arrived in Sarawak in the early 1870s.
The couple had six children, three of whom survived infancy:
One of Oscar Wilde's fairy-tales, "The Young King", is dedicated to "Margareth, Lady Brooke, Ranee of Sarawak".